Happy Anniversary & A 1st Dinner

On Sunday, August 17th we celebrated 2 things: Mom and Dad's 46th anniversary and Aunt Sheila's first dinner out Our Vintage House.  That is my official pet name for our house. 

And this picture is just because I love my dining room.

Isn't it the cutest?

And I love my kitchen...

...and fruit pizza!  And yes those are SC peaches that are in season and delicious as we speak.  Heavenly!  Especially when paired with berries.  What could be wrong with any of that?

The Fam.

And it was a first for Aunt Sheila trying Peach Cider.  She can cross that off her bucket list. :)

We had grilled chicken that was marinated in my favorite: Yoshida sauce  (I like to cut the chicken breasts in half length wise and...thickness wise?  Not sure the best way to say that!  I like to make them little and skinny for maximum marinating),  twice baked potatoes and green beans.

A picture of the happy couple and...

playing Blurt made the night one to remember.

Stop and smell the roses...and what's cooking!

I can't say that I have ever had fresh cut flowers from our own yard in our house before now.  I kind of love it...

One more thing...  really love my stove too...

The last load of the big stuff...

...is in!  I am so excited!!!

Welcome home cocoa table!

 So glad you are finally here to hold our tray and my book...and other things I am sure will find there way onto you soon.

 My flying pig is happily smelling a yummy vanilla candle...That is one of the familar smells of  our home.

 My pig (she needs a name...hmmm...I need to work on that) is perched above a little pile of favorite books and one soon to be read book: To Kill A Mockingbird (we are going to start it in a few days Shannon!). We just have to finish reading A Wind In The Door first.  Jake and I were looking for The American Patriot's Almanac yesterday morning...We both said we saw it but couldn't remember where...I found it Jake!

 Above our couch there is a pass through to the kitchen...

 I love it!  I do not love that there seems to be a slight clog in my kitchen sink-hence the liquid plumber on the counter...

 This is what it is like from the kitchen side.  Yes that is the Fox News Channel.  It almost always is when I am the one in charge of the remote.  I love HGTV but I am boycotting (they cut a show before it even aired because the hosts were outspoken Christians and liberals are offended by that...idiots.  The liberals not the Christians), most likely temporarily because I love it too much to it give up forever.  I am weak like that...Like my Food Network boycott after they fired Paula Dean....Sorry Paula...I just love the Pioneer Woman too much...I am rambling....Back to the subject!

 We don't have stools yet but my mom left her painting stool here so I am using it for now.  There is actually a stool the old homeowners left in "the studio" that I just need to go down and get.  I will but not tonight...I am done for the day!  I will introduce you to "the studio" soon...

 Right now I am blogging and watching Fox News. :)

 The buffet made it into the dining room....(My Daisy picture most likely will not hang there.  I just wanted to put something on the buffet and that was as much energy as I was willing to extend this evening)

 ...Dining room/library.  Eventually I am going to get two more of these Billy bookcases from Ikea to fill the wall.  Allen once said they were going to decorate their house with books.  I LOVE that idea!  I have always wanted a library.  This counts to me. :)  Just a few boxes left in the corners of the room...

 I am in the hall in this picture...Just to give you all an idea of the lay out.  To the right of the buffet is were you go into the kitchen...but I guess that is pretty obvious.

 Our bedroom!  Hello armoire!

 Isn't it so pretty...{sigh}...I love it.  Aaron is going to take a picture (a landscape.  He won an award at a state art show in high school for his photography.  I told you he can do anything.  I am a pretty awesome photographer too if I do say so myself! And I am modest too!  Hehehee!) and we are going to frame it and put it above the bed...Oh!  I just had and idea for the frame we can use!  I am clapping  my hands in delight right now!..When it happens I will post it. 

 I can't wait to put some nails in the wall and hang pictures to really make it feel like home.  I am not going to do it though until everything is unpacked!  I have hung two pictures already but that was on nails that were already there so it doesn't count.  Those curtains cover our closet.  The old homeowner made my day by leaving all her curtains!  She has good taste.

 Just another view so you can see the awesome rug I love so much.  Ikea for  $19.99.  How do they do that?!

Next project:  Finish the few boxes that are here and Jake's room.  Hanging posters!!...Then we have to go back to the old house and clean and get the rest of the stuff we really don't need....A blessing and a curse! It is soooo nice not to have had to rush out of the house..But it is so hard to want to go and finish the job.  I just want to sit in my pretty new vintage house and be happy!  How am I going to do it you ask?  I told Jake I am going to pay him to help.  He was going to help any way because he is our child and this is a family job...BUT when you offer a child money they get extremely enthused to do it and will do 3 x's as much because they wants $$$$!  And it will happen quicker because Jake wants $$$$!  It is amazing what the promise of $10 will make a 12 1/2 year old do.  I know...I am an evil genius.

One more thing....

I LOVE MY HOUSE!!!!  I know it is our house but I can call it my house too.

1st's in our 4th....

This is our 4th house...

and here are some 1st's in it.

 First time parking in the carport.

 First good picture of our big tree.

 First meal: Chinese takeout.

First thing I organized: our closet.  By color!  Isn't it soooo pretty?  Wonder how long it will last....

First picture on the wall: In the spare bedroom.  It is Jake's first finger painting.  I think he was about 8 or 9 months old.  He is 12 1/2 in this picture and not too thrilled with having to take it. :)

See his tiny little hand print?

First time I have seen Aaron paint a room...I didn't know he could edge so well.  After almost 17 years I am still learning about his mad skills.  I am pretty sure he can do anything.

First time we have every had a toilet in our front yard for several days.  I am hoping it will disappear soon...New toilets are the best though so it is worth it. 

First romp in the back yard with Sadie.

First amazingly shaped Dorito...ever for us!  It was a perfect arrow.

First meal in the Sunroom with our plants that haven't found their proper homes in our house yet.

For some reason all I can see when I look at this picture is the fake grin and "teen" on his shirt.  This is last summers t-shirt for the libraries summer reading program...They include rising 7th graders as "teens", so my 11 year old was officially a teen according to the library last summer.  The end of this summer he really will be a teen...wow...just wow.

The first time Sadie waited patiently for some one to give her drop some food for her while we ate on in the Sunroom.

First time some one, other than me, took a picture in our new house.

First poop scoop and lawn cutting.  Saku was dying to cut the grass and Jake was more than happy to let him!

First dinner guests on Cinco de Mayo.  Last Thursday was the first official lunch guests.  We ate Taco Bell for lunch while everyone helped load the trucks (we didn't rent a big truck we just did lots of loads in Papa Harmon and Erin's trucks and Mom & Dad's Jeep and ours.  We are still going back and forth doing little loads.  It is nice when you only move 5 minutes away and have a couple of weeks to move out) and unload...and I didn't take any pictures of that.  Thank you our amazing family for helping!  This is also in the Sunroom eating yummy burritos.  Homemade-not Taco Bell. 

First book on the book shelf.

First time putting Ikea Billy bookcases together and we put both of them together wrong...The one on the left is pretty obvious.  The top is on backwards and we can't take it apart because you have to nail the back on....Mom says she can make it look perfect.  The one on the left isn't so bad.  The screws are supposed to be on top so you can't see them but I just put tall books on the top shelf and you can't even see the screws...Lesson learned: read all of the directions first.

I love this house. :)